Svmuu News: South Korean police are investigating local users of the prediction market platform Polymarket on suspicion of illegal gambling. Polymarket is classified as private gambling in South Korea and is considered illegal under current law. According to police sources, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency was recently commissioned by the National Police Agency to launch an investigation into domestic Polymarket users. This marks the first such operation targeting domestic users and covers the entire country, including Gangwon Province. Under Article 246 of the South Korean Criminal Code, all forms of gambling are illegal except for Sports Toto, which is operated by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and has a betting limit of 100,000 won. Users involved in this case could face fines of up to 10 million won. Lawyers representing some of the users under investigation have pointed out that while the cases meet the legal criteria for illegal gambling, the severity of penalties remains difficult to predict as there are no precedents in the country for penalties imposed specifically for using Polymarket. Currently, accessing Polymarket does not require the use of IP proxies or similar methods, and the platform imposes no restrictions even when South Korean users place bets using USD-pegged stablecoins. The June 3 local elections have become a popular betting target, with the amount of money involved in gambling reaching hundreds of billions of won. (Chosun)